ARTICLES OF FREEDOM MEETUP GROUPS
AGENDA for ARTICLE 12
I. Welcome
II. Patriots Prayer or Other Prayer click here
III. Star Spangled Banner MP3 file (song, 7MB file) and lyrics
OR Song to America “AMERICA”, MP3 file and lyrics
(other songs and lyrics found on main organizer resource page)
IV. Pledge of Allegiance
V. Announcements
a. NOTEBOOKS: Everyone should have a notebook for the AOF meetings to
hold copies of the Articles, handouts, notes, etc. (Organizers & officers too!)
b. ORIENTATION: For all new members, again WELCOME! If you missed
the Orientation meeting, please go to this web page and catch up on the
Orientation materials and introductory videos:
www.givemeliberty.org/AOFMeetup.
By reviewing the Orientation materials and the videos you will more readily
see where we are in the overall AOF civic education process and you will more
readily grasp the nature, history and profound power of the First Amendment
Petition clause that is at the heart of the entire Articles of Freedom process.
(No matter where any individual or new Meetup group joins the process,
minimum recommended viewing includes introductory curriculum materials
through June 22nd [Article 3, Right to Petition for Redress of Grievances]).
c. ATTENDEE SHEET – Please download and use the Form provided here
for all who attend to sign in. The Secretary will maintain the Attendance Sheet
in the Records Book.
d. DUES – The purpose of the dues is discussed fully in detail in the
Orientation materials. In brief, each participant is asked to support the
activities of the local Group at the rate of $3 per month (including the cost of
the subscription at meetup.com), and the work of the national organization --
We The People Congress, at the cost of $7 per month (or $50 per year).
The AOF project cannot succeed without your financial support!
The $3 local dues are paid locally to the Treasurer. The $7 national dues are
paid as a WTP Congress membership. Each Meetup member needs to join the
WTP Congress on-line at www.WeThePeopleCongress.org. Here is a
direct link to Congress Membership page.
e. ELECTION OF OFFICERS – Officers not elected at a previous meeting
should be elected tonight. The duties of chairman, secretary and treasurer are
set forth in the Orientation document.
f. PROMOTE YOUR AOF MEETUP! -- To reach "critical mass" we need
to reach out consistently and repeatedly within our communities to promote
the weekly Meetup groups. We cannot promote our mission too much!
Organizers should actively assist Members in actively promoting the meetings
by distributing the easily customized, home-printable AOF Meetup “Invitation
Cards,” “Tear Sheets” and “Press Releases.” The Cards can be printed on biz-
card form stock available from Staples or other office supply stores. Links:
AOF Meetup Business Cards: FRONT-of card-v1 FRONT-of-cardv2 BACK-of-card-v1
AOF Meetup Flyer: FLYER-Tear-Slip-v1
AOF Meetup Press Release Template Find your local media: Link
VII. New Business: The Articles of Freedom – ARTICLE #12,
WAR POWERS AND ARTICLES 1 AND 2 OF THE CONSTITUTION
OVERVIEW:
Tonight we will look specifically at Article 11 of the Articles of
Freedom, WAR POWERS AND ARTICLES 1 AND 2 OF THE
CONSTITUTION .
One of the most profound collective acts of significance that the people of any
nation can take is a decision to wage war against another nation.
For almost a decade now, Government officials and our media have almost
nightly proclaimed that our Republic is "at War".
But are we really at War?
A decision to go to war by definition, places at immediate physical risk the
nation's wealth and resources, the blood of its citizens, the order and freedom of
its society and potentially its very existence as a sovereign political entity.
With war, come great consequences. Having just fought a bloody Revolution to
secure their Freedom, our Founders well knew the dangers, risks and costs of
war. As such they made sure that as part of the design of our new government
the power to take our nation into battle, for whatever purposes, would reside,
alone, with the Congress.
In doing so, the Founders insured that rigorous public debate through the elected
representatives of the People, and the express, formal intention of the primary
political branch would be secured before our armies could ever be engaged.
Unfortunately, emerging from World War Two, the preeminent global military
posture and dominance of the United States in terms of economic and political
might and world geo-political events resulted in a slow cascade of international
military interventions not authorized by Congress as Declarations of War.
Beginning in the 1950's U.S. Presidents initiated numerous so-called "police
actions" were taken across the globe including most significantly the military
interventions in Korea and Viet Nam.
The intervention in Korea against a backdrop of Communist forces of China and
the Soviet Union was specifically executed as a United Nations "police action" to
avoid the legal necessity of a formal Congressional Declaration of War as required
by Article 1 of the Constitution.
In the late 1950's, the United States again became quietly, but deeply involved in
Southeast Asia in Viet Nam. Again, in bold defiance of the Constitution, United
States Presidents committed hundreds of thousands of troops, vast military
resources and untold billions of dollars to fight this war that would eventually
cost 57,000 American lives and rage through political firestorms and without
decisive outcome through the eventual withdrawal of the US in 1973.
Since then our nation has engaged militarily to quell numerous additional
political hotspots around the planet, all without any Congressional Declaration of
War, and all in complete violation of our Constitution: Iran (hostages), Grenada,
Beirut, Panama, Kuwait, Iraq, Somalia, Yugoslavia, Afghanistan, Philippines,
and Iraq again.
Note this list does not include bordering states bearing side-effect brunt of US
military force including Cambodia, Laos, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan.
Of most recent Constitutional significance is the 2003 Iraq War -- authorized not
by a Congressional Declaration of War, but merely a Congressional "Resolution"
allegedly granting President Bush the unilateral authority to execute war within
Iraq. Unfortunately, and despite popular belief, the Constitution does not
authorize the Congress to delegate its exclusive, expressly enumerated powers to
another Branch of the Government.
Appallingly, the war in Afghanistan was initiated as a "self-defensive" action
under the auspices of the United Nations, lacking either a UN Security Council
resolution or a Congressional Resolution.
In short, for several decades now, our nation has experienced an almost continual
state of war, and virtually ALL of it has been instigated despite the requirements
of, and in patent violation of, the U.S. Constitution.
Although these wars have cost the nation dearly in terms of blood and treasure,
the true costs have been hidden or largely unrecognized by the public. Our
nation has corrupted and debased its own currency to borrow untold fortunes to
wage the wars. Our People have been deprived of the fruits of Liberty, commerce
and national infrastructure that would other exist but for the waste of war.
The finest minds of our nation have been employed not to further the
advancement and enjoyment of mankind, but rather have been set to the
commerce of killing and the perpetuation of an ever escalating, all-consuming,
military-industrial-security state.
Because of the far-reaching practical consequences of War, which include the
possibility, however remote, of the imposition of a general state of martial law,
Article 12 and the Petition for Redress regarding the abuse of the War clauses
raises profound questions for Freedom loving Citizens.
Is our Government to be trusted to determine -- alone, and in violation of our
Supreme Law, whether to exercise the most awesome power a sovereign state can
collectively execute -- i.e., the deployment of its armies?
Can Liberty be preserved if endless Wars are to be waged?
READ ARTICLE 12
SHOW VIDEO:
Tonight we'll watch a video from CC2009 featuring Dr. David Adler,
Professor of Political Science, Idaho State University, author- The History,
Meaning, Effect, Significance and Violations of the War Powers
Clauses of the Constitution.
(Video link will be posted on http://www.givemeliberty.org/aofmeetup)
ORGANIZERS: Remember that if a video will not open in full screen
mode, it can be viewed at near full-screen using the "magnification" setting
on the browser window (Internet Explorer, lower right corner). Please
remember to provide adequate sound amplification for your computer as
needed; speakers can plug directly into the headphone jack on any
laptop. Remember to bring an extension cord, as needed, to power the
speakers.
VIII. Brief Discussion – Questions and Answers
IX. Preview Next Meeting – ARTICLE 13
Next week we will study Article 13, ELIGIBILITY AND THE
NATURAL BORN CITIZEN CLAUSE OF ARTICLE 2
The Constitution is explicit in its simple,but unambiguous requirement that any
person that holds the Office of President must be -- not just an ordinary Citizen --
but a "NATURAL BORN" citizen. This clause - unique to the Office of President -
- was deemed necessary by the Founders to ensure the complete, unquestioned
loyalty of any one holding the Office.
Despite the general ignorance of the public and perhaps deliberate falsehoods
spun by the media, those two words, "natural born" is a legal term and has a well
defined legal meaning that was, and remains, in effect since the days of our
Founders.
In short, to become President, a person must be the child of TWO (2) U.S.
citizens AND the child must be physically born within the United States proper,
or within a Territory of the United States.
Despite numerous lawsuits and pressure from the public arising well before the
2008 presidential election, in January 2009, Barrack Hussein Obama took the
Oath of Office as President of the United States without producing official
documentation from any source conclusively establishing his legal eligibility.
No one in the Government exercised their official right to challenge the election
also as provided by the Constitution.
To this day Obama has refused to produce any evidence, and instead has fought
all legal attempts to force him to produce such, and has gone as far as to seal
virtually every public record from his life, including grade school records. Worse
yet, in Obama's own book, Dreams of My Father, Obama openly ADMITS his
father was a citizen of KENYA. Regardless of any birth certificate issue, this fact
alone dooms his legal eligibility to hold the Office.
In 2008, WTP Foundation openly Petitioned then Illinois Senator Obama in two
full-page ads in the Chicago Tribune to produce documentary evidence of his
legal eligibility. He refused to respond.
And as we'll learn next week, presidential candidate Senator John McCain had
his own eligibility issues to contend with.
So join us next week for an important look at the "Natural Born" clause of Article
II of the Constitution.
Documents regarding next week's meeting can be found on the
ArticlesOfFreedom.us website, at the bottom (footnotes) of the HTML version
of Article 13 of the Articles of Freedom.
X. Closing Remarks – Thank you for coming! Tell your friends,
family members, associates, neighbors, about the group and
invite them to come. Please remember to use the AOF
“invitation cards” and “tear sheets” to promote the Group and
its next meeting.
It is an honor and a privilege to be doing this with all of you.
See you next week!
####
Adjourn
ORGANIZERS: Please note the Meeting Minutes Form: AOF FORM 104
Meeting minutes should be recorded by the Secretary and approved via signature. Word by
word transcriptions not needed, significant content, transactions, elections, etc. should be
recorded. Please retain all minutes/corrections in permanent records.
Please remember to keep up on your record keeping! It is critical to maintain the integrity of our
organization, provide the transparency needed to attract supporters and to insure the
continuity of every local AOf Meetup.